Purse Snatched From Woman In Bathroom Stall

Spokane’s crime problem bottomed out last week in an underhanded bathroom caper.

A woman reached under a restroom stall at Sears in NorthTown Mall, stole another woman’s purse and escaped by running to a waiting car in the parking lot.

The victim, a woman in her 30s, told police she had placed her bag on the floor near her in the restroom on March 16 just before 6 p.m.

She saw a hand reach for the purse and she grabbed the strap but was unable to hold on, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The victim chased the woman through Sears into the parking lot. The thief ran to a car driven by a man.

The victim described the thief as a white female in her 40s, possibly with gray hair. Police are reviewing a surveillance video tape of the suspect from store security, he said.

Clerk flees from gunman

A clerk at the Best Western Motel at 3033 N. Division told Spokane police a man entered the lobby about 4:15 a.m. Sunday morning carrying a long, black leather bag that appeared to be a gun case.

He said the man approached him and asked him if he knew what a shotgun looked like. Then he told the clerk to go to the safe, Cottam said.

The clerk ran out the back door and hid outside for several minutes. The suspect was gone when he went back to the hotel, he said.

Police found no suspects after they arrived.

The suspect was described as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s. He is 5-feet-8-inches tall, 140 pounds, has a fair complexion, short dark hair, goatee and thick mustache. He was wearing a blue flannel shirt and a dark hat.

Woman nearly abducted

A truck driver attempted to abduct a woman at gun point on Sprague on March 11 before she escaped.

The 30-year-old woman told police a man driving the cab of a semi-truck tried to get her into the vehicle at Sprague and Regal about 10:30 p.m. Cottam said.

She told police she wrote the cab’s license plate on a piece of paper and the driver jumped from the cab with a hand gun, he said.

He ordered her into the cab, but she ran. He got back in the cab and drove around the corner where he hooked up to a trailer parked on the street, she told police.

The woman said she was calling police from a public phone booth when she saw him drive around the corner toward her. She ran into a restaurant and called police. The suspect drove away.

Police are still investigating.

Scam artist busted

Someone had been calling various pharmacies in Spokane using false prescription information to obtain pain-killer drugs.

Finally, police detectives received a tip on March 11.

A woman told Rite Aid Pharmacy at 9980 N. Highway she was going to pick up someone else’s prescription for them, Cottam said.

At 1:30 p.m. Angela J. Santiago, 29, was arrested when she entered the pharmacy and tried to claim the drugs. Santiago, who gave her address as 2428 N. Hogan, was arrested for prescription fraud, Cottam said.

Police suspect her in the other calls because she had other prescriptions in other names.

Thieves masquerade as cops

Two 17-year-olds told police two men who claimed to be police officers confronted them on the afternoon of March 13 at a grocery store and threatened to arrest them unless they turned over their watches and some cash.

The two said they were using a pay phone in the parking lot of the Buy Well Food store at 2105 E. Wellesley.

They said one suspect was riding a bicycle and approached them. He said the vehicle they had been driving was stolen and that he was an undercover cop, Cottam said.

The suspect said he would not arrest them if they gave him their watches and money. The two turned over their property and the man left, he said.

They said a second suspect went to their vehicle and began to remove stereo equipment, stopped and told the two they were lucky they weren’t being arrested for driving a stolen vehicle, Cottam said.

The suspects were described as white males, both about 30. One was 5-feet-7-inches, 160 pounds with dark hair, the other was about 5-feet-11-inches, 175 pounds with blond hair and an unidentifiable tattoo on his right bicep.

The victims couldn’t give an explanation as to why the suspects thought the vehicle was stolen or why the victims gave up their property.

Man busted for assault

Spokane police responded to a domestic violence call in the 900 block of West Garland on March 20.

Officers arrested 40-year-old Michael K. Petrocchi who gave his address as 338 W. Columbia. He was arrested for assault, Cottam said.

When an officer searched Petrocchi for weapons, he lunged at the officer and tried to kick his feet from out under him, Cottam said. Police backup arrived and Petrocchi attempted to kick several of them, according to police.

Petrocchi was put in a patrol car, kicked open a door and tried to escape. After being subdued he was arrested on an additional count of assaulting officers.

A records check revealed Petrocchi has a lengthy record of arrests for assaults on officers over the past 16 years, has convictions for domestic violence, theft and drug possession in Washington and California.

Pizza workers robbed

Two employees of a Pizza Hut told police they were robbed at gun point early on the morning of March 15.

They said they had locked the business, 3304 N. Nevada, about 1 a.m. and had the cash receipts and checks in two bags.

They said they were standing at their van when three of the four suspects ran toward them. One carried a shotgun, Cottam said.

One of the suspects grabbed the money bags and ran. The only descriptions of the suspects was that they wore “large puffy coats,” were between 18 and 20 years old and wearing ski masks or stocking caps.

Suspects fire rifle at fleeing man

Two men at the U.S. Bank at 7307 N. Division fled after one of them was confronted by a suspect while making a cash withdrawal early March 14.

The victim said he was confronted by a man with a small caliber rifle who demanded all his money. The victim told the man he had no money, hence the stop at the ATM, Cottam said.

The man took his bank card and started to walk away from the armed man who told him that he had better run.

The victim said he started to run toward his friend’s car when he heard a shot. He was not hit. He looked back and saw the gunman running to a “newer” white two-door sports car, according to police.

The suspect was described as a white male between 18 and 22 years old, 5-feet-7-inches tall, thin with blond hair.

, DataTimes MEMO: Anyone with any information about these and other crimes is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.